Regional News

RIYADH / REUTERS Saudi Arabia aims to start talks with Washington within weeks on an agreement to allow US firms to participate in its nascent civilian nuclear energy programme, with the first tender expected in 2018, the kingdom’s energy minister said. Saudi Arabia is interested in reaching a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Washington, and Riyadh has invited US firms ...

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco is looking for natural gas assets from Russia to East Africa and the US as the kingdom’s state-owned energy giant hunts for ways to meet soaring domestic demand. The comments by Khalid Al-Falih, who’s both Aramco chairman and Saudi energy minister, are a tacit admission Aramco has failed to find enough domestic gas reserves despite years of ...

Bloomberg Pemex’s crude menu has just gotten simpler. If it’s the traditional, heavier Maya you’re after, step right up, but traders with a palate for lighter, sweeter crudes will have to look elsewhere. Isthmus exports fell almost 16 percent in November from the previous month while Pemex stopped sending Olmeca, Mexico’s light- est crude, for a third consecutive month, according ...

Bloomberg Congress is close to lifting a 40-year-old ban on energy development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but drilling for oil in that frozen wilderness may still be years away as the effort faces exhau- stive environmental reviews and likely lawsuits. It could be a decade or more before any well is drilled, following required environmental scrutiny and permit ...

Bloomberg The last survivor among a slew of major US nuclear power projects is getting one step closer to seeing the light of day. The project could become the first US nuclear plant licensed in recent years that gets to be built, following delays that sent total estimated costs soaring to more than $25 billion. “We hope a decision is ...

Bloomberg Pakistan’s drive to tackle its polluted skies has left it with a problem: It has more dirty fuel oil than it wants. Their solution? Swap it with shipments of cleaner liquefied natural gas. The top oil marketing firm in South Asia’s second-largest economy, Pakistan State Oil Co., is exploring whether it can take delivery of LNG cargoes in return ...

Bloomberg A Greek shipowner is predicting new rules for marine fuel will put thousands of the world’s merchant vessels out of business in the next two years, roiling global trade. In fact, he’s wagering $1.1 billion on it. Evangelos Marinakis, chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp., based near Athens, says his company has invested that much in the last ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia expects oil revenue to jump 12 percent next year in a sign the world’s biggest crude exporter expects prices to keep rising in 2018. The top OPEC producer expects to collect 492 billion riyals ($131 billion) from oil sales in 2018, compared with 440 billion riyals this year, the Finance Ministry said in a budget statement. Oil ...

Bloomberg Oil headed towards its highest close in over a week as industry data was said to show a larger-than-expected drop in US crude stockpiles. February futures in New York added 0.4 percent after gaining 0.6 percent. Inventories fell 5.2 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report, suggesting further tightening in a market already facing ...

Bloomberg Eni SpA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc and senior executives will face trial over a $1.1 billion bribery scandal in Nigeria, an Italian judge ruled on Wednesday. The trial will start on March 5 in Milan, judge Giusy Barbara told reporters. The long-awaited decision, initially expected several months ago, will not only affect the two companies but 11 individuals ...